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Tokyo edges into the black
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April 14, 1999: 5:07 a.m. ET
Late rally boosts Japanese stocks, but Hong Kong dips
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's markets had a mixed session Wednesday. Tokyo staged a last-minute rally to end in the black, while Hong Kong stocks rose to a 17-month high before ending in the minus column.
The Nikkei 225 closed almost 50 points higher at 16,764.68, a rise of 0.3 percent, after spending most of the session in negative territory on worries of a possible earnings slowdown among technology companies.
A sell-off among high-tech stocks, prompted by a warning from the world's leading chip maker Intel (INTC) that revenue would be flat in the current quarter, left the index languishing in the minus column for most of the session.
Intel's announcement did not stop the Dow Jones industrial average from posting another record in New York Tuesday.
In contrast to Tokyo, Hong Kong took its cue from the Dow's new peak and plans for renewed talks over China's entry to the World Trade Organization. The Hang Seng index rose to a 17-month high of 11,963.91 before the jitters set in. Selling pressure increased throughout the afternoon and the index ended down 66 points at 11,834.13.
Tokyo's late rally saw the technology stocks lifted off their session lows, but left them firmly in the red. Sony Corp. closed 3.15 percent lower at 11,700 with negative sentiment toward the stock heightened by a local press report that group profit was likely to fall to about 90 billion yen in 1999/2000. The company refused to comment.
Other tech stocks also suffered. Toshiba lost 2.28 percent to close at 814 yen, NEC Corp. slumped over 5 percent to 1,300 yen, and Fujitsu slipped almost 3 percent to 2,005 yen.
Telecom company KDD was one of the star performers, surging 500 yen or 8.55 percent to close at 6,350 yen. Investors welcomed another Japanese corporate restructuring story, after the company said it would lay off 2,000 workers.
The late rally was driven by the anticipation that domestic pension funds will start allocating fresh funds to the market from April 15, traders said.
Hong Kong investors pulled back from the market as it approached the 12,000 mark.
"It seems that it's running into resistance at 12,000, but I don't see great selling pressure," Priscilla Ng, sales and marketing director at J&A Securities told Reuters.
Index heavyweight HSBC Holdings dipped HK$2 to HK$268.
Other Asian market were mixed. Singapore's Straits Times index was the exception, up over 1 percent at 1,698.19 in late trading. Sydney's All Ordinaries index closed 11 points higher at 3,088.2, after its record high Tuesday.
In Manila, blue chips closed up 0.5 percent at 2,168.41, while Taiwan's Weighted index closed 0.83 percent higher at 7,398.65.
South Korea's Kospi fell 2 points to 687. Kuala Lumpur's Composite index was down 8 points at 576.96, while Jakarta was flat at 433.14. Bangkok was closed for a holiday.
-- from staff and wire reports
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